LANCASTER, Pa. – After nearly three weeks without competition, the Wesleyan men's basketball team showed no signs of rust as they toppled Wilkes 108-87 in opening round action of the Sponaugle New Years Tournament hosted by Franklin & Marshall. The Cardinals (10-1) advance to the title game where they will face the host Dipolmats (4-5) at 3:00 PM on Thursday.
In one of the most impressive offensive outputs in recent memory, Wesleyan shot 42-for-68 (61.8 percent) from the floor including a 25-for-39 (64.1 percent) showing in the first half alone. The Cardinals also did significant damage from three-point range, hitting on 12-of-21 attempts (57.1 percent) including an 8-for-12 (66.7 percent) clip in the first half.
Both the FG% (61.8) and 3FG% (57.1) established new seasons-highs for Wesleyan but also marked their highest single-game percentages in quite some time. The last time the Cardinals shot better than 61.8 percent from the floor came back on Nov. 16, 2012 in a 104-38 win over SUNY Maritime where Wesleyan shot 42-for-63 (66.7 percent). The last time Wesleyan shot 57.1 percent from three was in an 83-65 road win over RIT on Nov. 27, 2016 (8-14 3FG).
Both
Preston Maccoux '23 and
Sam Peek '22 paced the Wesleyan offense with 23 points apiece. Maccoux tied his season and career-high with the 23-point effort while Peek continues his torrid senior year, posting his third straight 20+ point game and fourth overall for the season. Through 11 games, Peek has hit double figures in all but one contest while he has scored 15+ seven times. Incredibly, Peek added game-highs across the board with seven rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals as he had the most (or tied for the most) points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals of any player to see the floor in this one.
Nicky Johnson '25 set a new season and career-high in his third straight start, posting 19 points while going a perfect 4-for-4 from three-point range.
Shackylle Dezonie '23 tallied eight points, five rebounds and three steals while
Jordan James '22 matched his career-high with five assists to go along with eight points,
Gabe Ravetz '23 came off the bench to score 13.
Both sides were connecting early as Wesleyan led 13-12 not even five minutes into the contest as the Cardinals saw a different player score the first five baskets of the game. Less than two minutes later, Wesleyan stretched their lead to five points at 21-16 on a Johnson triple and followed with a stunning 14-0 run that incredibly came in a span of just 2:49. Maccoux hit a three and converted a three-point play in the Wesleyan run while Ravetz added five points in the spurt that made it 37-20 Wesleyan.
Wesleyan went on another run, this time scoring eight unanswered points to open up a 25-point lead, eventually stretching their advantage to 30 points before the halftime horn sounded on a stunning half of basketball that saw Wesleyan put up 67 points and lead by 25.
The Cardinals continued to shoot well in the second half, going 17-for-29 (58.6 percent) from the floor as they stretched the lead to a game-high 33 points early in the frame before ultimately putting away the 22-point win.
Wesleyan will go for their third regular season tournament title of the campaign on Thursday, facing the host Franklin & Marshall for a 3 PM tip-off. The Cardinals previously won the Vassar Tip-Off Tourney (Nov. 12-13) and their own Herb Kenny Tournament (Nov. 20-21) this season. This will be the fifth all-time meeting between Wesleyan and Franklin & Marshall (2-2 all-time record) as the two sides haven't played one another since Jan. 12, 1990.
